Tuesday, August 6, 2013

My husband comes by it honestly. You know, that penchant for exaggeration? His mother suffered from the same affliction. A bleeding hang nail was hemorrhaging. If someone spoke pointedly, they were hollering at her. We learned early on to put it through a reality filter. My husband and his oldest brother are the same only their targeted victims are the family pets. Their favorite phrase? It's EVERYWHERE!

My husband is convinced that the animals in our household intentionally make messes to irritate him. He is so convinced of this that he has, on many occasions, mistaken something as simple as a wet leaf for a dog pile. "Your dog pooped all over the basement," he will announce in disgust as he comes upstairs. If I laugh he follows with, "It's EVERYWHERE." To which I will dutifully go downstairs and find three or four leaves that came in on paws scattered around the floor looking for all the world like wet leaves not piles of poo.

You can interchange my husband for my brother-in-law and the conversation is the same. It's become a code for us Coltman women when we think our spouses are going overboard.
We will roll our eyes and say, "It's EVERYWHERE."

It is important to know that we have two dogs. Moose, our Bichon is almost twelve, wise and sneaky. Our Goldendoodle, Porter, is a puppy - eleven months old. He is the happiest dog on earth and he will tell you so every minute of every day. He's never really been in trouble so he has no frame of reference for "naughty".

We were in the final phases of moving with the house clear of all furniture when we decided to go out for supper. These changes had caused some agitation with the dogs to which Moose reacted by moving one of the gates just enough to escape into the basement and torment Porter who could not fit through the small opening. As furniture disappeared, we were forced to come up with different ways to keep the gate in place. So, on one of our last nights, Moondoggy hauled in a 5 gallon bucket with my basil and thyme plants and set it in front of the gate. We were gone no more than an hour. When we returned, I entered to find the basil and thyme pulled from the bucket and the partially eaten plants strewn across the hardwood floor among clumps of dirt. The gate had been moved just enough so that Moose could go downstairs while Porter was stuck in the kitchen. As I looked around at the mess, I could see Moose giving me that look that said, "Don't blame me, I was downstairs." I didn't say a word and quietly swept then vacuumed the floor as Dave shook his head, his lips pursed, holding in his mounting anger.

The next night we again headed out to grab some food. This time, we had a heavily packed box that we dragged in front of the gate, certain that it would do the trick. We were gone four hours. Upon return, I opened the door and peaked inside.

The lower cabinet lazy susan was pushed open. From the cabinet had been pulled a twp pound bag of confectioners sugar and the remnants of a five pound bag of flour. They had been gutted. They had been dragged across the room. They had been been deposited in every nook and cranny available, on the walls, in the cabinet grooves. The happiest dog in the world greeted me at the door, tongue hanging out. It was as if he was saying, "Look! Look what we found! Watch. If I roll in it and shake I can make a cloud. If I get a running start, I can slide across the floor and if I lick it, it sticks to my fur. I LOVE this! Come! Roll in the sweet white stuff with me!" Moose, on the other hand was cowering in the corner. He knew he was busted because he is the animal that knew how to open the lazy susan in the first place.

I turned to Moondoggy who was hyper-ventilating and said, "See THIS? THIS is everywhere."

In The Name of The Father

Time won't quell a killer's instinct and there is no place to find solace. . .not even in His house.

Liz's best friend rode off on the back of a motorcycle when she was 16 years old. Her body parts washed up on the shores of a Virginia beach community days later, prompting Liz's parents to sequester her away to Richmond, far away from the vicious murder. Now on her own, Liz returns to take back that part of her life and make peace with the events of her 16th summer.

John Williams' heart broke when, after being questioned in the grisly murder, Liz's parents spirited her away for good, leaving him grieving for his forsaken love. With the guidance of his father, the community preacher, John moves on with a clear understanding of his life's mission.

When another body turns up, savagely hacked-up on the side of the road, safety becomes elusive, even in the small community church where the answers are hidden. Liz and John have to face the truth that the killer is still out there. Watching. Waiting for them.

WARNING: There is one chapter that involves sex, drug use and some language.

About Me

I grew up in a female heavy household in toney Bloomfield Hills, MI. Married in 1982, we moved to small town Illinois where the entire population was equal to my high school, the closest mall with stores I had heard of was 50 miles away, and I had to go to the post office to collect my mail. Compound that with the birth of two boys ( changing the gender majority for which I was accustomed), the unspoken pecking order of a small town and you learn how nutty life can be.